It was found on the 27th that employees of Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) violated personal stock trading guidelines a total of 42 times over the past five years. The amount of the guideline-violating transaction totaled 843.38 million won. That means each transaction violated the guidelines by at least 20 million won.
KIC is a sovereign wealth funds that manages about 350 trillion won in national asset. There is criticism that it is a problem for employees of an institution that must manage foreign exchange reserves effectively to prepare for contingencies and increase national wealth to pursue private interests while violating internal guidelines.
According to an analysis of Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) data by Rep. Jeong Il-yeong of the Strategy and Finance Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, the most common type of violation among the 42 total breaches of employees' personal stock trading guidelines over the past five years was a breach of the mandatory holding period (18 cases). This means they broke rules that require holding stocks for a set period after purchase to prevent short-term trading (so-called scalping).
In addition, many cases were uncovered for delayed reporting of trading history (13 cases) and trading during working hours (8 cases). In particular, in 2021, the amount of violating transaction reached 398.11 million won, the highest on record.
There was also a case suspected of using information before disclosure. The employee in question received only a simple warning and a two-month transaction suspension, despite a combined violation of "delayed reporting of trading history and trading during working hours."
Habitual violations also came to light. Four employees violated the guidelines at least twice. One employee violated the rules again even after receiving a past transaction suspension, but the matter ended with minor disciplinary action.
Rep. Jeong Il-yeong said, "Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) is a key national institution that manages the people's foreign exchange reserves," adding, "If employees repeatedly break internal guidelines dozens of times and receive only a slap on the wrist, public trust is bound to be lost." Jeong added, "Discipline for repeat violators should be significantly strengthened, and the compliance monitoring and internal control systems should be thoroughly reexamined."